Entertainment

Dustin from 'Stranger Things' wins Best Actor at Shorty Awards

Maybe the 2017 Oscars were a cautionary tale. Ahead of the 9th Annual Shorty Awards, the team behind Shorty decided to announce over a dozen big winners ahead of time before Sunday's award ceremony.

"The growth of the Shorty Awards is a sign of how vibrant the internet is for talented creatives, and a reminder of how important their work is," said Gregory Galant, co-founder of The Shorty Awards and Muck Rack CEO. "The Shorty Awards has doubled in popularity this year. These winners were chosen by over 5 million votes and the Real-Time Academy."

Though the Shorty Awards focus primarily on new and online media, that can get more mainstream than you'd think. The year's Best Actor winner was Stranger Things' Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), with awards for Best Webseries and Best YouTube Comedian going to known commodities Tyler Oakley and Thomas Sanders.

At the intersection of pop culture and social media was Best Celebrity and general social media queen Chrissy Teigen, while Best in Sports went to Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

"Social media's growth is fueled by talented creators who surprise us daily with bold content, yet often we focus on shiny new technology and forget about the people spending thousands of hours to use it well.

WATCH: Simone Biles and Zac Efron's golden Twitter romance

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.